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Ender’s Game

This was much better than I thought it was, but I thought it was going to be horrible. My memory was that it got terrible reviews, but really, I might have missed any actual discussion of the movie in the debate over whether or not it’s politically correct to pay money that would wind up going to the super homophobic and ridiculous terrible Orson Scott Card. It really isn’t that bad of a movie.

It isn’t great, but I enjoyed it. Ender’s Game is just such a good book, it gave them something awesome to work from, they would have had to been incompetent to completely ruin it. This isn’t incompetent! This is just a little bit flat, and weirdly paced. In a book there’s room to follow Ender through the different stages. The reader sees him grow up a little bit. The movie doesn’t have the same breathing room, and rushes along. It feels rushed, in a bad way, and also means there isn’t much chance for the supporting cast to get developed. I would have enjoyed more time with Bean, Alai, and Petra. I understand why this stuff got left out, but it still feels like a loss. The final product doesn’t hang together well enough for me to accept these losses. It’s still aright.

If you haven’t read the book, you really should. If you love the book you might want to check out the movie, it was a nice way to spend an afternoon in a story I adore.